We have come to Darwin, to experience the heat and sights of the Northern Territories of Australia. Darwin is the capital of NT and with 140,000 people is a reasonably substantial city. It's 12 degrees south of the equator so has a tropical climate with a hot wet "summer" with monsoon rains and a cooler dry winter. We have arrived at the start of the "cool" season but their idea of cool means 22 C at night and 32 C during the day, so it feels pretty hot to us. We are two and a half hours behind New Zealand time here.
It is quite a long trip to get here - over 3 hours from Wellington to Sydney, then another 4 hours 20 from Sydney to Darwin. In all more than 13 hours from home in Wellington to our hotel in Darwin. We arrived about one in the morning, but despite the hour the airport was full of people coming and going. It was much bigger and busier than I expected.
Sue's conference kept her busy on Thursday and Friday, then we picked up our rental car and looked around the town a bit. Darwin seems to be an important defence area, with quite a large base on the north shore of the city and various navy ships moored. A group of young soldiers travelled on our flight from Sydney, and later on the road we saw a long convoy of army vehicles.
There is a well-developed waterfront area with bars and restaurants around a marina, and also large houses around the edges with their own jetties and boats parked. At the NT Museum and Gallery we learned more about the myriad creatures which might bite, sting, poison or eat you around here, and also saw photos of the near-destruction of Darwin by Cyclone Tracey in 1974. Most of the population had to evacuate the city, and many did not come back. All houses are now required to include a concrete shelter to protect inhabitants from future cyclones.
The box jellyfish (fatal) and salt-water (estuarine) crocodiles and other various unfriendly creatures mean swimming at the beach is not really a big thing here. Best to try the hotel swimming pool instead.
It is very hot out in the streets, so we have not stayed outside too long as yet. No doubt we will last longer as we get used to the heat.
It is quite a long trip to get here - over 3 hours from Wellington to Sydney, then another 4 hours 20 from Sydney to Darwin. In all more than 13 hours from home in Wellington to our hotel in Darwin. We arrived about one in the morning, but despite the hour the airport was full of people coming and going. It was much bigger and busier than I expected.
Sue's conference kept her busy on Thursday and Friday, then we picked up our rental car and looked around the town a bit. Darwin seems to be an important defence area, with quite a large base on the north shore of the city and various navy ships moored. A group of young soldiers travelled on our flight from Sydney, and later on the road we saw a long convoy of army vehicles.
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| A bronze croc down at the marina |
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| The shore looking out at the Timor Sea |
The box jellyfish (fatal) and salt-water (estuarine) crocodiles and other various unfriendly creatures mean swimming at the beach is not really a big thing here. Best to try the hotel swimming pool instead.
It is very hot out in the streets, so we have not stayed outside too long as yet. No doubt we will last longer as we get used to the heat.
